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T O P I C R E V I E W

bthumble

How do you go about acquiring an astronauts photograph? Is there a website you can download them, and if so, how do you print them in a very good quality for long term purposes?

I do not want to go the eBay route to purchase pics and end up with possible low quality.

Mike Dixon

There are high resolution images online available through Google searches and I'm sure people here will be able to help you out.

Rick Mulheirn

I can recommend this guy; I have been buying prints from Robert McMahan for years and the quality of both the print and the service is excellent. eBay is just one avenue he uses for his business.

He set up a stand at one of the big astronaut signing events last fall I think where he displayed some of his 20x16s.

None other than Alan Bean was blown away by the quality and that is some recommendation...

eurospace

Ed Hengeveld from the Netherlands (a member of this message board) is selling CDs with high resolution files of all (!) official astronaut portrait photos. I always use these data files to have my own glossy portraits printed.

The CDs come assorted according to the astronaut groups. You can buy one, or several, or the whole set of CDs from him.

Go4Launch

An excellent source for images to make prints from for signing is Retro Space Images. Not only do these discs include the individual portraits of all crewmen who flew, but they also contain many unusual photos, which is why I recommend them. I like having a collection of signed photos that are different from the typical ones you always see.

RocketmanRob

I would second Rick's recommendation of Robert McMahan Photography. Really great photos that are high quality. Wally Schirra once mentioned that he had never seen a better quality reprint of one of his Gemini photos. Great customer service as well.

StarDome

I have approximately 3000 NASA issued portrait pics so if your looking for anything in particular, excluding the WSS shots that I only have 1 or 2 dupes then let me know.

Plenty of shuttle-era stuff.

I'd ideally like to sell them as a "job lot" at some stage.

stsmithva

For original, vintage NASA lithos and glossies, I second the recommendation of Jerome's "Mission Control Plus."

However, most of the photographs I want to have signed by astronauts these days I find online and get printed. (This is mostly because I like to get 16x20 prints signed, which are fantastic for display.) Here is how I find top-quality high-resolution images online, and what I use to get them printed.

Excellent websites for space program photographs, in approximate order of preference (quality of images; ease of searching, etc.):

KSC index (mostly low-resolution images, but useful because the serial numbers are clearly listed, which you can use to then look up higher-resolution files of specific images).

(Please post if I didn't list one of your favorites.)

And to get them printed, I use mpix.com, which someone here months ago recommended to me. Superior quality prints on archival paper, decent prices, and frequent sales (like 50% off 8x10s).

DSeuss5490

Has anyone ever ordered a large print (11x14 and larger) by uploading a high resolution NASA image file to a service like Walgreens or Sam's Club? Since I procrastinated and there isn't any time to place an order elsewhere, I was looking to possibly do this for the upcoming Cernan signing. I won't bother if the resulting photo would not be suitable for signing. Thanks!

ilbasso

If you're uploading to a department/drug/discount store, you really want to be sure that you're getting quality prints, ones that are actually printed through a photo process rather than with inks. Some drug stores just use inkjet printers, which will not produce a long-lasting print. Stick with photo stores for something as important as an astronaut autograph!!

stsmithva

quote:Originally posted by DSeuss5490:Has anyone ever ordered a large print (11x14 and larger) by uploading a high resolution NASA image file to a service like Walgreens or Sam's Club?

As I mentioned above, I have sent 16x20s to mpix.com and have been very happy with the quality. You just have to make sure you have found high-resolution images - at least 2-3 MBs and a good 2000 pixels across.

I've noticed that this website - a fine resource for well-organized hi-res photos - has been offline for a couple of weeks. Does anyone know why? I believe the administrator is a cS member who goes by "Davide" and I've e-mailed him, but the e-mail address listed is at spacearchive.net and therefore my message might not reach him.

I don't want to sound like a corporate spokesman for mpix.com, but if you are interested in stocking up on photos for display, signing, etc. you might want to know that from now until midnight CST, February 27th they are having a 50% off sale on 8x10 prints. That means E-surface (archival) prints are just 99¢ each. 8x10 Metallic and True B&W prints are just $1.24 each.

That's worked well for me. I recently uploaded some great shots recently off the site, printed them at the local Walmart photo printer on 8x10s and gotten them signed at an event. They look even better than the NASA lithos!

schnappsicle

quote:Originally posted by COR482932:I was just wondering did anyone know of any website where I can download high resolution photos that I can use to send off an autograph request to shuttle astronauts?

You'll have to find your own lab to print these, but the quality on these 2 sites is as good as there is.

The first site has a lot of very good high quality TIFF files and a few acceptable JPEGs. While it doesn't have everything, it's the one site that spans the entire history of manned flight from the NACA days to the last shuttle mission.

This site has all the Mercury and Gemini mission photos in high-res format. It's a blast just to browse through them. It'll be even better once they get the Apollo photos digitized.

Fra Mauro

For those of us who like to get signed astronaut portraits, where can you buy unsigned ones?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

Hart Sastrowardoyo

ApolloMissionPhotos.com has them, so does J.L. Pickering.

Or if I find them on one of the NASA websites and they're sufficiently hi-res, I upload them to my WalMart photo account and get them printed that way.

I just have to remember to carry NASA's disclaimer that its photos for the most part are not copyrighted because once in a while they pull them for being professionally taken.

Space Shuttle Endeavour

I want to send a few autograph requests to astronauts like John Glenn. What paper should I use for the NASA images? Should I use Staples Print and Copy center?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

J.L

I work with Tom Usciak at Greenfield Labs. Tom has been in the space photography business for many years, and his photo print work is the best there is. I know for sure that he supplies prints to a few autograph dealers.

My current inventory of images available is in the 100,000 range. If you send me a wish list, or some low resolution files of images you are looking for, I then send them on to Tom for printing.

You can also contact Tom directly (usciak28@comcast.net). Either way, the files will end up with Tom for printing. I believe his charge for an 8x10 is $4.95. Price covers any research needed, any image dusting, and gets you a superb print (with or without) a white border.